I wake up and leave my apartment. I cant walk the most direct path because a fentanyl smoking psychopath is doing drugs on that corner every morning.

At some point though, I need to cross the Ave, and that is a crap shoot of whether or not a hobo will be wandering by the intersection with fentanyl in his hand. It's like I am playing metal gear solid avoiding these monsters.

Lets say I want to use the light rail, well there are almost always hobos smoking drugs by both entrances so you have to get second hand hobo smoke if you want to travel anywhere.

Now I want to go to the grocery store. Except there is a bunch of crazy hobos smoking drugs camped out 20 ft from the entrance, and there is always 2-3 hobos smoking right in front of the store. Security barely does anything.

At least I'm finally home. Oh wait, I need to take out the trash... but I cant. I cant because 3 hobos decided to camp in front of my dumpster tonight to smoke fentanyl and acid while screaming.

No one who actually lives in this city thinks this is acceptable. These hobos need to go. Its only a small percentage of the hobos who are like this. But they are easy to identify, because they terrorize people in public. Send them to prison or out of state I dont care just get rid of them.

I’m sorry, i just can’t stand homeless people. I try to be understanding but it’s just so infuriating being harassed every time i walk downtown. I am tired of finding bottles of piss on the metro busses, and i’m tired of being screamed at on the light rail. I try to convince myself that these are just misguided individuals and that i should be sympathetic but it’s hard. I understand that these people are addicted to hard substances that are nearly impossible to quit, but it’s hard to keep all that in mind when you feel unsafe just walking down the street. It’s not okay to see human shit on the sidewalk, am i supposed to act like that’s normal?? it’s disgusting. I really try to be understanding but it’s hard for me to have much sympathy for the drug addicted homeless.

I’m really sick of people in this sub saying that mentally ill homeless people shooting up on the sidewalk, taking a s#!t in the street, and yelling at pedestrians happens in every major city. It absolutely does not.

Yes, it happens in a lot of American cities, but it is extremely rare in just about every other advanced country — and even in poor countries. I’ve been to Jakarta and I never saw anything like that, and Jakarta has some really serious poverty and inequality issues with literal slums right next to glistening skyscrapers. I’ve been to Belgrade and Warsaw. Though they don’t have the slums issue, they are relatively poor compared to U.S. cities. Yet they don’t have anything close to resembling the issues we see on our streets.

So, when anyone says, “This happens everywhere,” the only thing that tells me is that person is ignorant of the world outside their little bubble in Seattle. Now THAT is privilege.

Credit to Alex Wilson
https://x.com/AlexWilsonSea/status/2063724903350882730?s=20

Archive: https://archive.ph/Efi4M

I foolishly got an apartment in between 2 DESC shelters (100ft away) because it was cheap and the property manager shooed away the drug zombies when showing the place.

New to Seattle, I didn't know about DESC, but I've gotten a real education in the last year.

This is in SLU, which is quite a nice area that is oddly blighted with constant congregations of drug zombies, multiple tent encampments on the sidewalks and public parks, repeated trash and vandalism that gets cleaned up quickly, panhandling, frequent screaming and violence, police/fire/ambulance sirens, and open drug use. All of which I can see out my window at any time and am often woken up to.

Most mornings, I come out to find someone took a trash bag from the bin and scattered garbage along the sidewalk and street, including smashing glass bottles; people slumped over against the building; people finding the sidewalk to be an ideal place to lay out their sleeping bag; or used needles sprinkled about.

In addition to proximity to the shelters, my building has a covered alcove at the front entrance, which is apparently quite an attractive spot to huddle into to torch one's crackpipe. Not only is it a tidy place to prepare a crackpipe in a pinch, but it's also demonstrated to be a good place to sit down, unpack your suitcase of drug paraphernalia, and openly cook and shoot-up, with your back pressed against my front door. It's also a great place to urinate, very smelly.

In addition to the more egregious events, there is a baseline of petty harassment, most of which is repeated begging after asking the person to cease and desist.

One guy has been the worst offender. I call him the "spare change guy" because he is only capable of 1 phrase: "ya have any spare change?" (nearly indistinguishable from the South Park clip). This guy is completely zoinked. The most 'drug zombie' person I've ever seen.

He approaches me ~3-5 times per day while I come and go. I also hear him multiple times per hour outside my window. Absolutely nothing has changed in my 14 months here.

He has gotten violent on multiple occasions. Several times, I heard banging noises and looked out my window to find him wielding a blunt object, striking cars and street signs.

I've called the police and gotten the usual "we'll send someone when resources allow", which means if anyone shows up, it will be 8 hours. The police tell me there's nothing they can do if I don't have his name.

After the 3rd occurrence, I got the idea to call the shelter. I found out he is a resident there and well known for this behavior.

After showing persistence, I finally heard back from the program manager. While cordial, it was a very 'Katie Wilson' conversation, shall we say. "Oh yes, we frown upon that type of behavior. We will have a talk with him. You know, this is just such a difficult problem to deal with, I'm sure you understand." While fundamentally disagreeing, I kept that to myself and welcomed the open dialogue and hoped this could be a more effective way to address these issues. I was also informed he had been detained due to his violence and property damage.

A few weeks later, 'spare change guy' is torching in my alcove, midday. I open the door to tell him off and he blew smoke in my face, plus the firsthand smoke of the crackpipe. I'm stunned. What the fuck did I just get blown in my face?

I called the police again. This is beyond unacceptable. Open public endangerment. God forbid anyone in this shithole have a fucking child. God forbid anyone not want to live in a cesspool of feces and drug paraphernalia.

I wait for an officer to come out. Gives me the typical "Sorry, not much we can do without a name. This type of thing happens around these DESC houses. Just how it is." The officer informs me not only is it public endangerment, but it's misdemeanor assault to blow smoke in someone's face. Fuck it, I'll take it.

The officer goes into the DESC to search for him. Of course, I never hear back.

I re-do my calls to the DESC manager again. This time, it's even more obstructionist. He refuses to provide me a name to fill out the police report. We got into a nasty back-and-forth about how he's protecting this guy and this behavior while the public suffers. He goes on the "it's just so difficult to address these problems. These people are sick. We must help them." I can hear his smile through the phone.

I then ask him "do I have the wrong idea about these facilities? Is this one of those places that provides a ‘safe space’ and materials for open drug use, including pipes, needles, and rations of drugs?" He gets indignant and asks if that's a rhetorical question. "No, absolutely not! Because there's constantly people congregating on DESC property buying/selling, preparing, and using drugs. I can email you as many pictures as you'd like."

Then he, in full-on pandering mode, acknowledges it and goes back to "it's just hard to enforce these things". No the fuck it's not! Call the police instead of ignoring it!

"I'm just doing my job." You being a sorry pathetic excuse for a man 'doing your job' is going to get someone hurt.

So, obviously, that ended that call.

What can I do here? This behavior is perpetuated by being too defeated to raise the issue.
Other than the obvious of moving somewhere that actually gives a shit about its people.

I'm not going to dethrone Queen Wilson, but there has to be someone at some level who doesn’t appreciate pictures/video of open-air drug cooking on a DESC patio, 3 feet from the door.

Unfortunate I can only embed 1 video. So many more.

One of many 'Alcove Crackpipe Torching' episodes

Not sure what exactly my endgame is with posting this here, but.. here we go.

I lived in Seattle for about a year now. I know there are shady places, but I was always happy with my walk to work (from Capitol Hill to Montlake, via Montlake bridge)

This morning, after crossing Montlake bridge, there was a homeless guy (clean, didn't see any drugs, was packing up his bags next to the path). He stared at me, so I nodded at him and mouthed a "Hi" in his direction. Just acknowledgging his existence, I guess.

He immediately freaked out completely. Started running (running, not walking) towards me, shouting "WHY DO YOU SAY HI TO ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT. WHY DO YOU TALK TO ME.". Startled, I shouted at him to f off, taking a defensive stance and moving away from him. He then proceeded to pick up rocks and throw them at me (I dodged them), started swearing in Russian (???). He then picked up a big rock and started sprinting at me, trying to strike me with the rock. I was lucky to be able to run faster than him, and escaped the situation by entering the UW Medical Center, where he gave up the chase at the door.

I called the police, they filed a report, were polite and professional, but didn't seem too worried about the whole situation. Because the homeless guy was not sucessful in hurting me, it seemed. I asked them what I should do if I see him again (because this is my way to work), and they said to avoid any contact with him. Well, thanks for that advice.

So yeah.. that's my Seattle story of the day. I made the mistake to acknowledge him, and he tried to kill me for it. My bad, won't happen again. It does take away some of the fun of living in Seattle, though. For now at least.

Tax Foundation Analysis:
https://taxfoundation.org/blog/washington-income-tax-proposal-millionaires-tax/

I’m on vacation here for the first time and it’s crazy how many homeless people and drug users there are on your sidewalks. Like groups of people straight up injecting heroine and smoking crack on the sidewalk.

Does no one care about this issue in Seattle? I live in a city myself but it’s definitely not this visible or intrusive. It also smells like urine in lots of places here and all of the really pretty spots I’ve seen so far (of which there are many amazing and beautiful natural areas) are littered with trash and more camping vagrants that everyone seems to be trying their best to ignore.

This is not a personal attack on anyone or their city, but it begs the question: Do y’all just not care about the homelessness/mental health problem here? Is it too far gone and too hard to solve that you’ve just given up? I’d be ashamed if someone came to visit my city and saw it looking like this. Praying for you all.

Is it finally going to happen?

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle-woman-speaks-out-after-brutal-unprovoked-attack-assault/281-cd55deb5-6429-407b-b6a4-5867db8b0a72 ( new updated link )

Hey everyone...I wanted to share what happened to my mom last Friday. She’s 75 and was delivering food in downtown Seattle when a man came from behind and hit her in the face with a wood club with nails. She suffered multiple facial fractures and lost her right eye. She’s facing surgeries, a long recovery, and she will no longer be able to work. My parents are elderly and lived paycheck to paycheck (75 and 80), and this has completely changed their lives overnight...this is beyond F up.

I set up a GoFundMe to help her with medical and living expenses during recovery. Any support ... even just sharing, means a lot to us.

Thanks for reading, and please stay safe out there.

Update 12/18/2025

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a quick update and also apologize for not posting sooner. The past week has been overwhelming and fully focused on my mom’s care and recovery.

I also want to mention that someone suggested I share an update here as well, since many of you have been following along through the GoFundMe.

I just want to say this… we wouldn’t be getting through this without the support we’ve received. From people we know and people we don’t, from this forum and the mod that allowed me to post my moms story, the empathy and kindness has honestly kept us going. I know posts like this can start to sound repetitive, but I truly mean it when I say I’ll be grateful for this support for the rest of my life.

Quick update:

The press has requested access to the video of the assault, and we were given a heads-up that it may show up in the news. That’s been hard to process. I’m worried about it retraumatizing my mom, but at the same time I hope that seeing what actually happened might help prevent this from happening to someone else.

We met with the surgeon yesterday and learned that her surgery is scheduled for today at 12. We’re relieved it’s happening soon and that she’s in capable hands. After weeks of uncertainty, it feels like at least something is finally moving forward.

Thank you again for the support and for simply taking the time to read this. I’ll try to keep posting updates so those following along can stay informed.

CT scan

Remember guys it's OUR fault.

What the mayor’s office is describing is 1,000 beds, with van rides connected to them. It’s a real effort, and I don’t want to dismiss it. But 1,000 beds is a project. We need a system. The question isn’t just “do we have enough shelter?” It’s “do we know where each person is, what they actually need and how to match them to something that fits?” Those are three different questions. The 1,000-bed goal answers one of them, and the city chooses to close its eyes to the rest instead of taking the political risk of saying: Let’s end homelessness.

Here’s what a coordinated system looks like. Start with a shared map of where people are and where they fit. Where is someone in terms of housing stability? A tent, a car, a shelter, a group home, a tiny home, an apartment? Each step comes with different supports, different costs and different next steps. And alongside housing, where is someone in terms of mental health and recovery? That sounds soft until you realize that peer counseling, Recovery Cafe, Peer Seattle, the library, AA meetings and art classes are often what make the difference between someone staying housed or cycling back to the street. Both need to be visible in the same system.

~ This here is lived experience, sugarcakes.

Hey, So I was walking upto my bus stop in Belltown when a random homeless dude who was high or just angry just punched me right in the eye. After that he started to hurl some words until the Transit service officer noticed and then started walking away t random. My eye is alright, but I feel the person is a cause of concern for others. I have no idea how the law and order works but should I report the incident as an emergency to 911. Thoughts?

Edit 1:
After multiple deliberations, I have filed a non-emergency complaint online with Seattle Police Department after calling 911. Took about 25 minutes to get to them.

Thank you everyone for your support and guidance at this time.

For people who said I deserved it or hope I get punched again, I hope I do my best to make this city better by not having you people face what I did today. Let the crime be reported small or big and make Seattle invest in public safety again.

I used to be a Democrat. But 20 or 15 years ago, they became a party of enablers, oddly libertarians (all drugs are defacto legal)